Grateful
by thatreevesgirl
Summary: We cannot be alone all our lives, we must reach out in the hope that someone will reach back. Kakashi x Sakura.


_**Grateful**_

_**One-Shot**_

_**by Lemon Drops/thatreevesgirl (both me)**_

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was the kind of guy who really disliked being assigned busywork. He enjoyed being micromanaged even less. As Kakashi glanced over the stack of scrolls he was assigned and allowed a single sigh before continuing his work. Kakashi was translating an outdated, archaic code into the current Konohan standard code. He couldn't help but cringe when he saw Shizune out of the corner of his eye. She was here to check up on him, to make sure his punishment was making Kakashi as miserable as humanly possible. 

"I'm going home for the night, these better be done in the morning or Lady Tsunade will be very displeased." The look on her face was sour, as if keeping an eye on him was a great burden to her as well. Kakashi nodded, then returned to the particularly irritating scroll he was working on. Shizune gave a punctuated yawn as she began walking away, but mumbled through it lazily, "See you in the morning."

Kakashi grumbled under his breath. Shizune had been checking his progress all day, treating him like some idiot genin. She would go over the code and whine about his atrocious handwriting for the most part. Shizune might have been the Hokage's personal assistant and trained by the Hokage herself, but Shinuze was far from being as laid back as Tsunade. He actually liked Tsunade's approach to the kage-position, and respected how she handled her responsibility with an attitude similar to his own. The one thing he found distasteful about the female Hokage was how she held grudges and made sure her subordinates paid for their indiscretions.

Sure, he shouldn't have been sneaking around the high-ranking jutsu archive with a very pretty chuunin. And perhaps Kakashi should have thought twice before having relations with that chuunin in the archive. And he could see now why it should have been against his better judgment to use a bookcase full of important jutsu scrolls to prop his partner against. But honestly, decoding and translating all of those hundred or so scrolls as recompense was a ridiculously high penalty for him to be dealt. Tsunade wouldn't have even found out if that hellcat of a woman hadn't gotten so frisky. Maybe that bookshelf would have still been standing when they were finished if she were a little tamer.

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, remembering the encounter. It had been completely worth it. There wasn't a part of him, not even his common sense, which could refute that particular opinion.

"Still busy I see."

A pretty young woman in her early twenties wandered into the room, smirking devilishly as she eyed the pile of scrolls remaining in Kakashi's pile. She tugged at her sandals and repositioned the shin guards before joining him at the table. It wasn't that he minded the interruption, but Kakashi wasn't very keen on finding out what the Hokage would have to say if he didn't finish his work on time thanks to another indiscretion with his little hellcat Chuunin.

"I have too many to finish before the morning, maybe you should go," Kakashi told her as he forced his eyes to focus on the scroll in front of him instead of the plunging neckline of her cream and red shirt or the how pretty her eyes seemed to twinkle in the room's dim light. The archives always did have such piss-poor lighting, but he cursed it even more since he'd lit a couple of candles to help alleviate the problem. She looked so pretty in candlelight.

"Naruto's wanting to know if we can take one of the open team slots for that mission to Suna tomorrow. He's anxious to go see Hinata and Gaara's new baby."

Ah, yes, Kakashi mused, the Kazekage's baby. Kakashi didn't know whether to be happy for the former psychopath or afraid. Naruto had been going on and on about it for a few days, probably because Naruto still longed for a family of his own. Unfortunately, Kakashi really hadn't absorbed much of what his younger teammate had said. Kakashi had been distracted for the past week or so, mostly by the woman sitting beside him. It wasn't really an official relationship, but wasn't just a passing infatuation either. To be honest, Kakashi wasn't sure exactly what was going on between him and his young teammate, only that it was very passionate and difficult to explain. It also got him in quite a bit of trouble.

"Sakura, I need to finish these," he reasserted himself. He couldn't have her sitting next to him, it was too difficult to concentrate whenever she was in such close vicinity. Kakashi couldn't force his brain to think about code translation and high-level, classified jutsu when it could so easily wander to her soft, supple breasts, or the long, graceful arc of her neck, or even the taught curves of her backside which seemed to beckon him constantly.

Sai had called her stout once, on top of the numerous times he had told her that she was ugly. Sai explained that her nearly flat chest, her extensively toned upper body, and her slightly curved hips seemed so out of proportion in comparison with classic beauties, she really lacked femininity of other women like Hinata. Sakura had, of course, punched Sai across the room for saying something so thoughtless, but she also took his words to heart, thinking she wasn't pretty. This is why every time Kakashi kissed Sakura or was intimate with her, he would quietly remind her of how beautiful she was. It was true, in his eyes she was stunning. Kakashi wondered when she had grown so much, or why he hadn't noticed it sooner. Maybe it was Sai's words which were the antecedent to his own realization.

Kakashi just shook his head at the young, artistic member of his team when Sai decided to say such thoughtless and untrue things. Sakura may have been a little atypical when compared to some girls, but Kakashi was definitely drawn to her beautifully curved body. And Sakura was far from being muscular, she just wasn't soft. Kakashi wanted to tell Sai that it was those soft, overly-feminine girls who were boring in bed. They couldn't keep up, and they certainly couldn't handle half the positions he and Sakura had experimented with since their affair had begun sixteen days ago.

Kakashi didn't like calling it an affair, because it wasn't the correct descriptor for what they had at all; yet, it was. It wasn't cheating of any sort, because neither of them had a significant other. It was more the mindset they had, and the sneaking around which they were forced to do. Unfortunately, Sakura was his former student, and though Kakashi saw no problem being with her, a person he had grown to care for and respect as a woman, there were many who did. To those people Sakura was still the thirteen year old genin placed under his wise tutelage so many years ago. Tsunade was one person in particular who didn't seem to enjoy the thought of them as a couple.

If asked, Kakashi would have been honest with anyone. The truth was that Sakura was one of the few people in the world he considered a close friend. She knew more about him than any other woman did, and she didn't seem to mind the emotional baggage he carted around with him. More importantly, she was able to see underneath the underneath. Sakura was the only person who called Kakashi out on his bullshit. Not a single person other than this plucky, pink-haired woman seemed to have the guts to do so.

Also, Sakura had grown up so much in the seven years Kakashi had known her. She wasn't the same immature girl she was when she was thirteen. She was a woman who many people respected, and was one of Kakashi's confidants. Though Kakashi hadn't been actively seeking something to happen between them, he certainly wasn't going to say no to it either. He glanced over at her again, and Kakashi saw she was smiling, her face propped up by her arm. Sakura was content to silently watch him work.

He returned the smile, then playfully told her, "Go away, Sakura."

"You're blushing," was the response he received from her. Kakashi would have preferred an "okay" instead, but he couldn't help but find her teasing endearing. How she was able to tell that he was blushing despite his mask and the dim light was beyond him. Until a few weeks ago, Kakashi was sure there wasn't anything which could make an unabashed pervert and hard-assed ninja like him blush, but then Sakura found a way.

"You're thinking about something perverted, aren't you?" she teased again. As if something sexually inappropriate could make _him_ blush. Did she really realize just how many pornographic novels he read in a week? Well, she probably did, so that was why he couldn't believe Sakura would think that to be the reason he was blushing. He looked at her again, giving her an incredulous stare before returning his focus to the current translation. She was still smiling at him, and now, Hatake Kakashi, the famous copy-nin of Konoha was blushing so hard that he could barely believe it. Kakashi could feel how warm his cheeks were, and it embarrassed him.

"You like me, don't you? You are blushing because you like me."

Kakashi rolled his uncovered eye at her and continued working. Now he was starting to find her teasing annoying, but Kakashi wasn't stupid. He knew Sakura was trying to get a rise out of him, in more way than one. Arguing invariably led to very passionate sex between them. Kakashi grumbled to himself, still pissed that he couldn't control his temper or the blood vessels in his face when he was around Sakura. And yes, he did like her, he wouldn't have blushed if he didn't. Kakashi was thirty-four, but she made him feel like he was the awkward, inexperienced teen of yesteryear. He'd read enough romance novels to realize that he had all the symptoms of a degenerative disease which many people considered a horrible affliction, one which was usually devastating to a bachelor like him. It was a sickness which turned men into bumbling idiots who did stupid things like have sex in the jutsu archives and blush like a pubescent boy. Kakashi had no doubt he was infected.

That disease? It was simple, Kakashi didn't just _like_ Sakura, he was beginning to _love_ Sakura. Despite being detrimentally jaded, Kakashi was surprisingly quite the optimist. Why else would he have such a fascination for dirty novels? Yes, reading the more pornographic parts were fun, but in all honesty, Kakashi enjoyed the romance. He loved reading about these completely hard-assed shinobi, not unlike himself, find the person who they were truly meant for. Jiraiya's books were some of the ones which excelled in the more romantic side of things. Maybe it was all those years the old pervert held fast to his unrequited love of Tsunade which helped him be so masterful with writing romance.

Kakashi thought fondly about the now deceased author. Kakashi had never been a close friend of the Sannin, but he was still aware of the older man's plight. Jiraiya kept trying till the very end to prove his worthiness as a lover to Tsunade. Fortunately, the Hokage finally realized how much she did love the big oaf before it was too late. Jiraiya died a happy man, knowing that Tsunade returned his love. Of course, that love for his teammate and friend was apparent in every single one of the books Jiraiya wrote. There were so many beautiful, blonde, large-breasted heroines in the Icha Icha series that it made Kakashi laugh just thinking about it. Icha Icha was clearly about Jiraiya's feelings for Tsunade, it was a story hidden between the lines, but was also vaguely apparent in every word Jiraiya wrote. Kakashi longed for a love like that, even though he would never, _never_ admit it aloud.

Sakura picked up a scroll and began translating it, helping Kakashi along. She wasn't quite as good with code as he was, though most people weren't, and this was probably the most difficult of the older code syntaxes to decipher. At least her handwriting was more legible than his was, Kakashi mused.

"You don't have to do that," Kakashi told her. She shook her head and told him that she didn't mind.

Even when there was nothing to gain from it, Sakura was willing to help him where needed. Most of the women Kakashi had attempted to date over the years weren't like Sakura. They demanded more. Those women wanted things like presents or idle chatter or his complete and undivided attention for hours on end when it suited no purpose whatsoever. Sakura was comfortable enough to just be with him. She didn't ask for attention or complain if she wasn't bribed with gifts, Sakura even went as far as to be the giving person in their relationship. She healed him without being asked, massaged away a week's worth of pain when she noticed him being sluggish, and she even helped translate horribly difficult code from dusty old scrolls. Kakashi had never wanted to kiss someone as badly as he wanted to kiss Sakura right now.

It was that moment when Kakashi realized the best kind of love was an uncomplicated love, and that was exactly what was growing between him and Sakura. Putting his hand atop hers, urging her to put down the pen she was using, Kakashi tugged down his mask and kissed Sakura ever so softly atop her lips. He didn't take the kiss any deeper, he had a lot of work to do after all.

The mask was still down around his chin, revealing Kakashi's handsome, roguish smile when Sakura poked him in the arm with one very sharp fingernail. "What in the heck was that, mister?" she asked. "I thought we were supposed to be working."

"We are, that is why I only gave you the one kiss," he retorted with a chuckle, "You just looked so…beautiful."

Kakashi still wasn't perfectly suave with how he romanced Sakura, but he tried. She giggled and went back to work on the scroll, and this time it was her turn to blush. Unable to look him in the eye, Sakura asked very quietly, "Why do you always tell me that?"

"Because you are."

It was a simple explanation, and very true. Despite how many times Kakashi told her, Sakura still seemed to disbelieve those words, questioning whenever Kakashi whenever told her. He knew she didn't do this consciously, but merely because she just couldn't quite believe she was. Kakashi watched as two very faint tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. She was obviously trying to hold them back, refusing to blink and let those tears fall.

Sakura was a tough woman, and these days she didn't cry often. Kakashi knew her tears always had meaning. Usually it was for a comrade who was killed in combat. Sometimes it was for happy occasions like when Sasuke came home or when Hinata told her that she was having a baby.

"Thank you, Kakashi," Sakura managed to squeak out. "You're mean for making me cry."

"You are silly for doing it," he countered, moving to wipe the two rogue tears which had managed to roll down her cheeks. He caught them just as they were about to fall from her chin. "I was just telling the truth."

"You are so sappy, almost as bad as those stupid novels you read," she told him with a grin.

Kakashi returned her smile. "Those novels aren't stupid, and besides, where else would I have learned my incredible skills of wooing women? Really, Sakura, I thought you knew me better than that."

"Sometimes, I wish I didn't know you that well," she told Kakashi with an indignant snort, and he knew she was baiting him again. This time he took it, hook, line, and sinker. It only took a moment of silence before the two of them were kissing, scroll translation forgotten, Tsunade's wrath also forgotten. It wasn't long before there was a pile on the floor which consisted of scrolls, a cream and red shirt, his own standard-issue black shirt, a lacy bra, a flak jacket, and a pair of pink panties. There would be hell to pay for Kakashi tomorrow, but for now he didn't care, at the moment he was busy making love to that beautiful hellcat of his.

He smirked into their kiss as Sakura raked her nails down his back. Kakashi reveled in Sakura's mewls as he pressed into her. The jounin coupled each slow, methodic thrust with words that made Sakura melt. He told her that she was beautiful over and over again. Kakashi was such a hopeless romantic—a perverted, jaded, very hopeless romantic.

When they were finished, Kakashi helped Sakura back into her clothes and she helped him re-sort the scrolls they had knocked off the table.

"Do you think you can finish all of these in the six hours you have left before Shizune comes back?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi highly doubted it, even with Sakura helping him all night he would be pressed for time, so he shook his head no and continued working. Sakura giggled, and despite the fact that they had _just_ gotten redressed, she asked Kakashi in a rather seductive voice which he could not resist, "In that case, want to go another round?"

Tsunade glared at the jounin in front of her. He looked worse for wear, the dark circles around his uncovered eye very obvious. Tsunade wasn't in the mood to berate Kakashi, so she got right to the point. "Izumo's report says he caught you and Sakura having sex on my desk this morning. What, per say, prompted the two of you to do such a stupid thing?"

No need to beat around the lie at this point, Kakashi was in deep shit as it was, so he forwent the normal excuses and tried the truth, "For the thrill, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade rubbed her throbbing temple, "I'm very, _very_ disappointed in you Hatake. I was hoping that you would learn from your little experience in the archive not to repeat that particular sexual indiscretion, not expound upon it."

"I offer my deepest apologies, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade glared at the copy-nin again, "No more sex on my desk ever again. No more sex in the archives. No more sex anywhere in any ninja-related compound. Try your own bed, Hatake, and try it with someone other than my apprentice."

Kakashi could agree to all of those things except for one. "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama," he began, "I can promise to not have sex where you asked, but I can't comply with the who."

"Why's that, Hatake?" Tsunade asked.

A voice from the hallway, distinctively like Sakura's called out, "Because he thinks I'm beautiful!"

Kakashi amended that for Sakura, telling Tsunade in the quietest of whispers so that Sakura couldn't hear, "Because I'm in love with her, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade let out a frustrated breath, and shuffled some papers on her desk. It was quite hard to argue with that. It was almost as hard to argue with it as it was to believe. Kakashi wasn't exactly the type of person who Tsunade pictured falling in love with anyone.

Kakashi broke Tsunade's obviously skeptical silence with one of his favorite quotations. "A wise man once wrote, Hokage-sama, that alone we are unable to accomplish an ounce of what able to we are achieve with the support of others; whether that be the strength of diplomacy, the power of a village, or the love between two people. We cannot be alone for all our lives, we must reach out in the hope that someone will reach back."

Tsunade knew that line far too well. It was the last lines in the final book Jiraiya ever wrote. It was a simple love story, containing none of Jiraiya's normal perversions. He had given her a copy of the manuscript before leaving for the village hidden in the rain to fight the leader of the Akatsuki. Tsunade had read it so many times that its words were burned into her memory.

The Hokage bit back tears and managed to tell Kakashi, "Fine, behave yourself. I catch you on my desk in the future and you'll be lucky if you ever have sex again. Shizune will have the details a new mission for you, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke. Have fun staying in Suna for the next month or so. I hear summer is a bit hot down there."

Kakashi gulped, he hated Suna, he hated summer in Suna the most, "A month or so, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade laughed at Kakashi, his obvious discomfort was definitely humorous to her. "Yes, maybe in a month the two of you will have gotten this out of your systems. Or perhaps the Kazekage's desk is a more adequate conquest for a ninja of your skills." Kakashi was still flabbergasted when Tsunade added a quick, "You're dismissed," and shooed him out of her office.

Sakura was waiting for him in the hallway, looking rather pleased with herself. "So, the Kazekage's desk? That sounds like a trophy we should try for."

Kakashi rolled his one eye at her again, "You are becoming quite the pervert, you know that?"

"I blame you," she told him, a devilish gleam in her eye as she took his hand in hers. Kakashi didn't even blink, he just used his free hand to grab a well-worn copy of Icha Icha out of his vest pocket, and read as she led him to Naruto's apartment and then Sasuke's, informing them both about the mission. The passage from Jiraiya's book he had recited for Tsunade were playing in the back of his mind the entire time. _We cannot be alone for all our lives, we must reach out in the hope that someone will reach back._ Kakashi squeezed Sakura's hand and was grateful for the truth in those words.


End file.
